2013 Editions of Geomagic Qualify and Geomagic Qualify Probe Announced

Geomagic® announced the 2013 release of its leading 3D metrology and inspection software, Geomagic Qualify® and Geomagic Qualify® Probe.

The 2013 versions build upon Geomagic’s robust inspection capabilities, delivering improved automation, GD&T and hard-probing functions. The combined new features will make it even easier to quickly measure and verify manufactured part size and perform automated inspection and measurement in quality checking and assurance processes.

Geomagic Qualify is the industry’s most comprehensive, robust and accurate 3D metrology solution and automation platform for use with both probe and scan data. Geomagic Qualify Probe, on the other hand, makes Geomagic Qualify’s wide toolset available in a simpler, probing-only measuring environment. Innovative, flexible and extraordinarily customizable, the Geomagic Qualify products deliver reliable and innovative solutions that save customers time and help them consistently manufacture top-quality products.

“Today’s manufacturing environment demands not only the best metrology toolsets, but it also needs to be automated and customized for some very complex processes,” said John Alpine, vice president of engineering, Geomagic. “Geomagic Qualify 2013 delivers a comprehensive set of tools for advanced Python scripting which allow customers to create inspection workflows that meet their specific needs – and save time This release delivers a really full set of probing and reference data creation tools, plus CAD-free workflows that will continue to meet their evolving needs.”

Improved Feature tools and advanced GD&T functionality

The Geomagic Qualify products have been enhanced to deliver more intuitive interactivity between the engineer and the software, especially in the QuickFeature™ and QuickProbe™ toolsets.

Features (i.e., reference data) form the core functionality of any measurement system, and significant advances have been made in this area to enhance the workflows for engineers. The new QuickFeature enhancements include CAD-less feature creation and fast, intuitive creation of features using the new pre-selection highlight. The QuickProbe functions now include better probed feature editing with relative measurements; improved fitting statistic readout for each probed point, with the ability to exclude and automatically refit; and audio feedback when probing, which indicates real-time out-of-tolerance conditions without the engineer having to watch the monitor.

Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerance (GD&T) enhancements have resulted from the improved feature editing and include definition of nominal geometry without a CAD model; improved prompts to probe test data to satisfy callouts in walkthrough mode; and a more detailed Measure Features command that delivers measured and nominal features plus deviations. Enhanced annotation tools provide better appearance, content and customizability of annotations.

Expanded automation platform and command line-driven applications

Automation and custom development, especially of complex and massive metrology workflows, is becoming more important to many customers. Python scripting tools were initially released in the Geomagic Qualify 2012 platforms, and they have been enhanced significantly in the Geomagic 2013 releases. Inspection functionalities, including constrained alignments, CAD model access, reporting, and more, are now available in the platform toolset. These tools enable rapid creation of custom functionality and automation of previously labor-intensive processes.

In addition, a major new feature of Geomagic Qualify 2013 is the access to a version of the software that enables command line-driven versions of the applications, execution of macros, and scripts to be run without using the additional computing resources required by a GUI.

The new alignment commands work with and without a probing device and enable quick alignment of the 3D data through matching features or geometry. Now engineers can align with just a few clicks, and these tools are flexible enough to handle simple 3-2-1 or more complex feature-driven alignments. In addition, N-point alignment allows for dissimilar objects to be aligned using point pairs.

Additional improvements in the Geomagic Qualify interface include a new Connect button to initialize digitizers and keep them connected. Geomagic Qualify 2013 also boasts a 20% faster start up time, and improved handling of compensation vectors is now available in the probing functions.

Availability

Geomagic Qualify 2013 and Geomagic Qualify Probe 2013 will begin shipping to new customers, and will be available for maintenance customers to download at the end of January 2013.